THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300456
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KERRY DEROCHI, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
His yellow canvas high-tops and bright red T-shirt seem, somehow, out of place. His grin belies the danger of his journey.
He has no idea what's ahead, no vision of his future. But the uncertainty doesn't matter.
In his view, he's already made it.
``I wanted to be free,'' said Rafael Garces-Rodriguez, in an interview at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center. ``I was tired of the way of life in my country. I felt I could have a good life in the United States.
``I was willing to risk anything.''
Rodriguez, 30, is a refugee from Cuba.
He, like thousands of others from his Caribbean nation, climbed into a boat this fall and headed for what he hoped would be a better life in America. He wound up, instead, in a tent at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The base has held up to 20,000 Haitians this year, and 20,000 Cuban refugees remain there. A government-issued number became his only ID.
Three weeks ago, Rodriguez was transported from Guantanamo to Portsmouth to be treated for severe asthma attacks. He is one of 25 Haitians and Cubans who have received medical attention at the Navy hospital as a result of the recent turmoil in their countries.
The Portsmouth hospital is one of four Navy hospitals that treat the refugees. The others are in Bethesda, Md.; Charleston, S.C.; and Jacksonville, Fla.
The care of Rodriguez and other refugees arises when overcrowded military hospitals have few beds to spare. Though many of the conditions are not life-threatening, the care poses a challenge to the staffs - medics more used to treating active-duty military than political refugees.
``If we're going to go into these places on the missions we do, we absolutely owe the folks there at least an initial response in medical care,'' said Rear Adm. W.J. McDaniel, the head of the Portsmouth hospital.
``We are the most logical people. We're the only ones with the organization, transportation and setup and training to go in and do that.''
For the staff at these hospitals, language barriers and culture differences have posed the greatest challenge. Families that accompany sick children need to be housed.
``We give them the same treatment we would give to any American,'' said Lt. Alisa Kohl, a nurse. ``We treat them with respect. We try to get everything worked out, let them know what's going on in their care.
``It's hard because we don't know exactly what's going to happen to them.''
The uncertainty mirrors the fluctuation in U.S. policy toward Cuban and Haitian refugees.
The patients remain in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, even while they are being treated at the Portsmouth hospital. When they are discharged from treatment, they may be sent to a civilian U.S. hospital for long-term care while their case is under review.
During their recent stay at the Portsmouth hospital, Rodriguez and another Cuban, Justo Cortez Hernandez, 28, lived on separate wards in the hospital, sharing rooms with active-duty sailors. Both have since been released to federal agents.
They met recently in a lounge at the hospital to talk - through an interpreter - about why they came.
Both knew of the change in U.S. policy to detain Cuban refugees at Guantanamo before allowing them to enter the country.
Both decided it was worth the gamble.
Rodriguez was a lawyer in Havana when he decided to leave. On Sept. 2, he and eight friends decided to pool their money and buy a small boat.
They set off from a beach near Havana on Sept. 4. They were picked up 24 hours later by a U.S. ship and taken to Guantanamo.
``I was a young man, I had a higher aspiration for a better life,'' Rodriguez said. ``My future in Cuba was a frustrating one.
``I hoped they wouldn't turn me away. I wanted to be free. I was tired of my country being so oppressive to the people, holding them down tight.''
Hernandez said he had considered leaving since 1992 when his father fled to Miami. He said he didn't go then because of his daughter. He got a job working for the country's security police, he said. He became frustrated with the system.
``I wanted to be free, I wanted to be a free man,'' Hernandez said. ``I wanted to get away from the Cuba regime, from a corrupt system.''
On Aug. 18, he and 17 other people climbed into a raft made of boards and plastics. He left his daughter behind.
They spent three days drifting at sea before they were picked up and taken to Guantanamo. He was later transferred to Portsmouth for a deadly infection in his thigh.
He doesn't know when he'll be sent back. He wants to go to Miami and find his father.
Hernandez cried as he sat in his wheelchair, his leg propped on a pillow. At times, he couldn't speak.
``I'm not sorry because I'm here,'' Hernandez said. ``I'm sorry that I had to leave my daughter.
``I haven't lost the hope that one day I'll be well off and bring my daughter to this country.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff
Justo Cortez Hernandez, 28, tried to float to the United States but
wound up in Guantanamo Bay. He is one of 25 refugees who have been
treated in Portsmouth.
KEYWORDS: REFUGEES CUBA by CNB